FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 295 



ing an average year. The number was put at 1,145,708 trees, and the damage caused was 

 estimated at ;^ 10,300, or about ;^3 4s. per 100 acres in the state forests, and 12s. per 100 

 acres in those belonging to village communities. The latter being, for the most part, coppice 

 under standards, suffered less than the former, while the proportion of windfalls in the con- 

 iferous forests was greater than that in those composed of broad-leaved species. The wind- 

 falls were sold for nearly ;^62 1,000. 



The forest officers, when arranging the annual felling, are careful to provide, as far as pos- 

 sible, against the effect of storms, by leaving a protecting belt of trees standing on the side of 

 the forest from which the dangerous winds blow, and in other ways ; but much depends on 

 natural conditions which are beyond their control, such as the configuration of the ground, the 

 shelter afforded by neighboring hills, the nature of the soil and its physical condition, the 

 kinds of trees and their root development, as well as their size, age, and the system of treat- 

 ment to which they have been subjected. 



It may be added that hailstorms often do great damage by stripping the trees of tlieir foli- 

 age, and by breaking or otherwise injuring the young plants. 



Fires. — The penal code provides for the punishment of persons who cause forest fires 

 either intentionally or through carelessness ; and the forest law prohibits the lighting or carry- 

 ing of fire either inside the forests or within 200 yards of their boundaries ; but the ordinary 

 laws do not prevent proprietors from lighting fires in their own forests to the danger of their 

 neighbor's property. This is an important question in the Maures and Esterel,* where the 

 bad practice is followed of systematically lighting fires in the forests, in order to burn up the 

 heather and other shrubs which interfere with the regeneration of the crop of trees ; and in 

 1 870 a special law was passed prohibiting the proprietors of those districts from lighting fires 

 in their forests, except at seasons fixed by the prefect ; and also compelMng them to clear fire- 

 lines around all woods and forests which have not been completely freed from all inflammable 

 shrubs. 



In 1876 there were 290 fires in the area managed by the forest department, nearly all of 

 them being the result of accident. The surface burnt over measured 2,350 acres, or about 

 j^lj^part of the entre area, and the damage was estimated at ^3,280, or 28s. per acre of 

 forest burnt. The proportion of fires was greater in the broad-leaved than in the coniferous for- 

 ests; but, on the other hand, the amount of damage done per acre in the latter was three 

 times as great as in the former, the resin in the trees themselves and in the dead needles on 

 the ground rendering the fir and pine forests excessively inflammable. It is also worthy of 

 remark that, although as a general rule, fires were of more frequent occurrence in the spring 

 than at any other season of the year, the autumn fires were, on account of the recently fallen 

 leaves, by far the most destructive. But this is by no means true of all regions, and the gen- 

 eral result may be mainly ascribed to the great damage done by fires occurring during the 

 autumn in the south of France. In the north forest fires are of small importance, and occa- 

 sion little damage. 



HUNTING AND SHOOTING. 



The right to hunt and shoot in the state forests is, generally speaking, let out on nine 

 years' leases, which are sold by public auction under the rules for the sale of timber and other 

 forest produce ; but when this is not possible, it is sold by means of annual permits issued 

 under the direct authority of the minister of ^riculture, the sport being always carried on 

 under the surveillance of the officers of the forest department. No forest officer can 

 become a lessee of the shooting within the hmits of his own charge, and forest guards arc 

 never permitted to shoot in the forests under any circumstances. 



The municipal councils are, subject to the approval of the prefect, free to dispose of the 

 right to hunt or shoot in their forests in any manner that they wish. ' 



* Low mountain ranges in tlie soutfi of France. 



